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Phi Delta Kappan
http://pdk.sagepub.com/content/96/2/37
The online version of this article can be found at:
DOI: 10.1177/0031721714553408
2014 96: 37Phi Delta Kappan
Gina DiTullio
Classroom culture promotes academic resiliency
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Classroom management
V96 N2 kappanmagazine.org 37
Thinkstock/Wavebreak Media
Classroom culture promotes
academic resiliency
By Gina DiTullio
When we hear the words “classroom management,” certain things come to mind: room arrangement,
routines, procedures, reinforcement systems. Rarely do we associate resiliency with classroom management,
but the two go hand-in-hand. Classroom culture results from the combination of educational philosophy
and the ability to manage the classroom. Classroom culture directly affects the teacher’s ability to develop
resiliency in students.
Resilient students succeed in spite of adverse conditions. These students tend to be optimistic and aren’t
easily discouraged by failure when they begin to learn a new skill. In fact, they seem to understand intui-
tively that the process of learning requires a certain degree of failure before mastering a new skill. In addi-
tion, they tend to have positive self-esteem, a thick skin, and a sense of humor. These are not necessarily
GINA DiTULLIO (gina_ditullio@boces.monroe.edu) is an assistant principal for the Monroe #1 Board of Cooperative Educational
Services, Fairport, N.Y.
The recipe: A classroom culture safe for exploring and experimenting;
mix in collaboration skills; add “just right” challenges; bake in
academic resiliency.
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3. 38 Kappan October 2014
climate is to help
students develop trusting re-
lationships with each other. In or-
der to feel comfortable taking risks,
students need to know that if they’re
wrong or their attempts at problem solving
aremetwithfailure,theirpeerswon’tcriticize
them. In order to achieve this, educators must
teach certain social skills and give students time
to practice them in groups or with partners. Be-
gin building a culture of collaboration and trust by
having students get to know each other. Students
should learn each other’s names and be required
to use them when working in teams. Very basic.
There are several “name games” for various grade
levels on the Internet that can be employed to ac-
complish this. One site that I find helpful is www.
morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/
getting-know-you-classroom-activities-starting-
school-year.
Then, students need to learn about each other.
Human nature is predictable. We’re less likely to be
hurtful to people we know and view as friends than
people with whom we are only vaguely acquainted.
Activities such as a “people search” and “friend
bingo” are easy ways for students to begin to get to
knoweachother.(Peoplesearchisanactivitywherea
teacherlistscharacteristicssuchas“hasabrother…a
pet … has been to another country … likes chocolate
ice cream,” and so on, and students walk around the
room, introducing themselves to one another, and
talkaboutthethingsonthelistandwherethatperson
may be able to put their name. The goal is for every
student to connect with every other student and to
match each person with one of the descriptions on
thepaper. Infriendbingo,thegoalistohelpstudents
learneachother’snames.Olderstudentscanconduct
interviews and ask each other questions about likes,
dislikes, interests, hobbies, families, etc. Teachers
may believe that this is a waste of precious teaching
time,buttakingtimetodeveloptheserelationshipsis
essential to creating an environment where students
are comfortable working together, taking risks, and
engaging in challenging learning experiences.
attributes that one can teach as much
as they are personality traits, but resiliency
can be developed in the right environment.
Resiliency is defined in two ways:
#1. The power or ability to return to the
original form, position, etc. after being bent,
compressed, or stretched; or
#2. The ability to recover readily from illness,
depression, adversity, or the like.
Generally speaking, teachers do their best to cre-
ate environments where these adverse conditions do
not exist so they can protect students from failure.
However, this may not be in our best interest in the
long run. The process of learning a new concept or
skillisn’teasy,andmostofusbeginbymakingseveral
mistakes. Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful
attempts at inventing the light bulb before he found
a design that worked and would in time revolutionize
the way American homes were lit. Students who can
learn to accept mistakes as part of the process and
learn from them without getting discouraged are far
more likely to be successful in school as well as in life.
They need to remain objective problem solvers in
order to assess the situation and find a solution. So,
how can we provide a seemingly paradoxical class-
room in which students feel safe to take risks, but also
are required to grapple with challenging curriculum
and a reasonable amount of failure?
Climate control
Classroom climate is essential for developing re-
siliency. While there are many factors that we can’t
control, the classroom environment is one that we
certainlycancontrol.Educatorsshouldconsidersev-
eral important factors when designing a classroom
that promotes resiliency development. These factors
include having students develop trusting relation-
ships with one another and adults, building compe-
tence, building confidence, creating opportunities
for risk taking, and creating engaging learning expe-
riences that challenge students to think and problem
solve. Sounds easy enough, but it requires a high
degree of planning and forethought on the part of
the professional.
One of the most important ways to develop a safe
While there are many factors that we can’t
control, the classroom environment is one that
we certainly can control.
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4. V96 N2 kappanmagazine.org 39
work times and listen for these phrases being
used. It is beneficial to record specific examples
in order to provide specific feedback to groups as
students acquire this new skill. Encouraging one
another fits in this category as well. Students are
much more comfortable sharing insults than sharing
compliments, and whenever I have done this with
elementary students, it is very forced and unnatural
at first. As with anything else, consistent practice
will help it become a natural part of their vernacular.
Having students help create a chart with encourag-
ing phrases on it — Good job! Good idea! What do
you think? I like that idea! Thank you for sharing!
— is important. We would always post the chart and
reference it when students were working in groups.
Again, it takes practice, and it is necessary for stu-
dents to evaluate themselves as well as to get specific
feedback from the teacher in order for it to become
part of the normal routine in the classroom. Teach-
ers can train middle and high school students in the
Socratic Seminar (www.socraticseminars.com).
Leadingagroupalsotakespractice.Somestudents
are natural leaders and take to the role easily. Most,
however, won’t be comfortable or confident leading
a group of peers. Define what a leader is responsi-
ble for. These might include staying on topic, mak-
ing sure all ideas are heard, making sure the group
adheres to agreed-upon norms, and ensuring that
deadlines and group assignments are met in the al-
lotted time. Teaching these skills with nonacademic
demands is best, for example, when completing a
puzzleorriddleandthenmovingintomoreacademic
activities when students are more confident in the
role. Make sure the role of leader is equally distrib-
uted throughout the day and throughout the school
year so all students have an opportunity to develop
confidence and competence in the role.
Building competence and confidence
When we talk about building competence, we also
need to talk about assessing student needs and differ-
entiating instruction to meet those individual needs.
Once students are familiar with each other,
they need to learn the basic skills necessary to
work cooperatively. These include listening skills,
speaking skills, and skills to lead and encourage each
other. One would think that these skills develop nat-
urally and that students would have a level of profi-
ciency with them by the 4th or 5th grade. Unfortu-
nately, experience has taught us that this is not the
case. Students rarely acquire the skills necessary to
work in teams and truly need to be taught explicitly
what those skills look like, sound like, and feel like
when being used effectively in group or partner work
situations.
Set a timer
Active listening is one of the first skills younger
students need to learn. One way to teach this is to
have students partner up, assign a topic for dis-
cussion (perhaps what they did over the summer
break) and have them do everything in their power
to NOT listen to one another. Set a timer for two
minutes. When the time is up, have students switch
roles; the talker now does not listen, and the other
student takes a turn talking. When two minutes
time is up, make a three-column chart that lists
what “NOT listening” looks like, sounds like, and
feels like. Repeat the activity, but this time, require
students to actively listen to each other. When four
minutesareup,completeasecondchartlistingwhat
active listening looks like, sounds like, and feels
like. Post that chart with the established criteria
for future reference and have students rate them-
selves as active listeners often. Students must learn
to evaluate themselves and not always rely on adults
to provide feedback. At the onset, though, adult
feedback is very important. Adult feedback should
be specific to behaviors identified on the chart: “I
like the way Andy used eye contact when he was listening
to Susan. I like the way Jen had a quiet body and quiet
hands when Peter was speaking. That shows good lis-
tening.” Concrete examples and specific praise will
help reinforce expected behaviors.
Similarly, students need to be taught how to speak
tooneanother.Again,thisseemslikeanareainwhich
we could assume a certain degree of competence by
4th or 5th grade, but there rarely is. Students need
to be directly taught how to engage each other in the
learningprocessandlearnwhatlanguagetouse,such
as: I agree because . . . , I disagree because. . . , What do
you think? I think you said. . . , Let me see if I under-
stand your idea. . . , etc. It is a good idea to write these
scripts or starters on a large piece of chart paper and
post it for students to reference during group work
times. The teacher needs to circulate during these
Make sure the role of leader is equally
distributed throughout the day and throughout
the school year so all students have an
opportunity to develop confidence and
competence in the role.
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5. 40 Kappan October 2014
Whenteachersdon’tknowthe
levels of students before begin-
ning a unit of study, they may unwit-
tingly be placing them in material that far
exceeds their ability to have even small suc-
cesses. If students begin at a level of frustration,
they usually can’t be encouraged to forge ahead,
nor should they be. Finding the appropriate point
of entry is essential when planning instruction. This
requires using a preassessment and possibly a tool
suchasaK-W-Lchart(whatastudentKnows,Wants
to know, or has Learned) or think-pair-share word
web to identify students’ prior knowledge. Teachers
also should uncover and address any misconceptions
beforebeginningtheunit.Ifthelessonisappropriate
for students, they should be challenged “just right.”
Our brains naturally thrive in situations where they
are challenged, but tend to shut down if there is too
little (resulting in boredom) or too much (resulting
in frustration or defeat). The educator’s task is to cre-
ate lessons that challenge students, but also result in
enough success to motivate them to continue. This
balance results in students feeling competent, which
fuels resilience.
Another important factor when considering class-
room climate is engagement. After ensuring that the
classroomisasafeandcomfortableplaceforstudents
to work together and take risks, we then need to pro-
vide opportunities for students working together en-
gaging in learning activities. Teachers must provide
learning opportunities that create cooperation and
interdependence and encourage problem solving.
Asimpleexampleofthisisoneofmy4th-gradesci-
ence lessons regarding building circuits that evolved
over the years. I went from giving students materials
to create a closed circuit and a diagram showing how
to do it, to just giving them a basket of materials and
telling them to work with a partner and make the
bulb light. Once the bulb was lit, they were to draw
a picture of what they did to get it to work. If they
were successful with one bulb, I asked them to add
another bulb and find two ways to get the bulbs to
light. Again, students were asked to draw a picture
of what they did that worked. Only after the experi-
ence of figuring it out on their own did I introduce
the vocabulary and talk about the scientific theories
behindwhattheyhaddone.Thisrequiredadegreeof
trust in their partners and in me. I didn’t give clues,
only asked questions that encouraged them to shift
their thinking and forge ahead.
Eventually everyone was successful, and they were
comfortable with not getting the bulb to light on
the first try or the second or even the third. Because
they had figured it out in their own way, they didn’t
forget what they had done five minutes after we had
finished the lesson. This shift required that I do in
two lessons what I used to do in one, but
the benefits far outweighed the time loss.
Racing to resilience
Another example of this would be a science les-
son that I used as a culminating activity for a unit
on potential and kinetic energy. I gave students a
variety of materials and asked them to work in teams
of four to design and build a milk box race car that
used some form of potential energy and could travel
at least three meters. Students had access to several
materials including doweling and wooden wheels.
The student designs were fairly similar, and most
students figured out quickly that the wheels needed
to be placed on the dowels. The problem that I pur-
posefully created was to make the wheels fit snugly
on the dowels so that they didn’t turn. Sandpaper
was available, but students needed to work together
and figure out how to solve the problem to make the
wheels turn. This required using problem solving
as well as communication skills. As educators, we
must continually evaluate our curriculum to find
opportunities for students to engage in problem
solving and the practical application of their learn-
ing. They may not be successful on the first try, but
that’s the point.
Although resiliency make seem like a trait that
students are predisposed to, teachers can also teach
students to become resilient in the correct environ-
ment.
We need to be conscientious about creating a class-
room environment where students can safely take
risks and more importantly safely fail. This requires
a challenging curriculum, differentiated instruction,
cooperation, planned interdependence, and the di-
rect teaching of listening, leading, and speaking skills.
Never underestimate the power of classroom culture
in our efforts to create resilient students. K
As educators, we must continually evaluate our
curriculum to find opportunities for students
to engage in problem solving and the practical
application of their learning. They may not be
successful on the first try, but that’s the point.
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